School principal, feuding students begin dialogue ; 'Carnival Killers' and suspended students meet to address concerns about harassment and bullying.

DARLA L. PICKETT Blethen Maine News Service
Portland Press Herald (Maine)
05-24-2007
School principal, feuding students begin dialogue ; 'Carnival Killers' and suspended students meet to address concerns about harassment and bullying.
Byline: DARLA L. PICKETT Blethen Maine News Service
Edition: FINAL
Section: LOCAL & STATE

SKOWHEGAN --

Parents remained uneasy Wednesday as school administrators tried to defuse conflicts between two groups of students at Skowhegan Area High School.

Principal Richard Wilson and other officials met Wednesday with members of two rival student factions.
The meeting followed a sit-in at the school last Thursday that resulted in the suspension of about 30 students the next day. The suspended students said they had been protesting ongoing harassment and intimidation by a group of students who call themselves "The Carnival Killers." During their suspension, the students protested outside the school.

Wilson said the student protesters, who returned to school Wednesday, provided a list of changes they want, such as enforcement of the student dress code; regulation of the size of student groups that can congregate, and elimination of the name "Carnival Killers."

"They presented some very legitimate points," Wilson said. "That is not the end of it. That's just the start of a conversation."

Administrators and police say rumors fueled fears. Parents uncovered Internet chat-room conversations about retaliation that mentioned guns and knives.

Acting Police Chief Rick Bonneau said most of those blogs, e- mails and chat-room conversations have been traced to their origins and are baseless.

Wilson also said many rumors were not true. A story about students throwing doughnuts at teachers was false, he said. Students actually threw doughnut holes, and they threw them at one another.

Wilson also said one confrontation between students occurred because he had unwittingly selected a place for the "Carnival" students to congregate that previously had been designated for juniors.

Parents and grandparents continue to worry.

Susan Bradford, waiting outside the school Wednesday afternoon, said the conflict has made her granddaughter fearful of going to school. "She's very nervous. She got hit and knocked to the ground with a backpack," Bradford said.

Maili Bailey, whose son was a protester, said the mass suspension was "brutish. I thought it was heavy-handed."

She said last Thursday's sit-in was a peaceful protest aimed at the real problems of harassment and bullying. "You don't just gloss over it," she said.

The conflict spilled over into the Skowhegan Recreation Center on Monday, when two groups of teenagers said they met to discuss the issues. Police confiscated a sword and daggers from a car in which teenagers had arrived. Officials later learned that many of the youths involved in that conflict do not attend Skowhegan Area High School.

Junior Julian Oakes, who was one of the suspended protesters, said he thinks Wednesday's meeting started the process of resolving long-standing harassment and bullying concerns.

Sage McGowan, a 15-year-old freshman who said he is among the people labeled as "Carnival Killers," said, "It's been blown out of proportion."

Copyright 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.